100 Fragments in Time
by Silver-Serval
Summary: 100 moments concerning the life and times of Sasuke, Naruto, and the people around them. Prompt #5 - Everyone has fears, some worse than others.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer:** Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' _DIED_!

**Author's Note:** SO! I am sicker than a dog. :/ And while I get to miss school all week, then then there's spring break, I'm sick. Which means drinking lots of fluids and (yay?) lots and lots of sleep. I slept all day yesterday. Literally. Unfortunately, it also meant no school. ... Before you rejoice, remember that next week is spring break. What's that spell? Disaster, of course, 'cause I have finals this week, and I'm not allowed back until next Monday.... Also known as the first day of spring break. So I'm currently failing all my classes. XD

So I decided that since I'm spending time with my mum at her school - yes, her school (she's a culinary student, so I gets yummy food all the time! :D ) - I was going to write something. The only question was what. And then it hit me. :] Drabbles!

My goal? Using the 100 prompt challenge (I'm also writing original stories for them... I just did this out of boredom.) words to create 100 drabbles themed around Sasuke and Naruto.

I hope you have as much fun I as I do. :]

Also... These drabbles may or may not follow the timeline. And I have no beta. Mistakes are all my own.

You have been warned.

***

Title: Introduction  
Characters: _young_!Naruto Uzumaki & _young_!Sasuke Uchiha  
Rating: K  
Warnings: none  
Pairing: none  
Summary: Naruto reflects on his and Sasuke's first meeting. AU - does not follow timeline.  
Additional Notes: Sasuke make appear OoC. The reason why is that it takes place before the Uchiha massacre, so he has no reason to be bitter.

***

_Prompt 1: Introduction_

They met by accident.

At the time, they were both six years old, both young, both naïve. But they were already radically different - one growing up loved and cherished, the other growing up lonely and afraid. One growing up, walking along a path that his family had walked for generations, the other growing up, breaking though and creating his own path to glory.

Yet no matter the extreme differences, no matter the fact that they were polar opposites - one being akin to the sun, the other an immitation of the moon - they met.

Naruto was having a bad day. Well, bad compared to all the other bad days he'd been having.

The night before, he'd set his alarm to go off early - at five in the morning, in fact - so that he could get out of the apartment before his neighbors woke up. When he woke up, his apartment was unbearably hot, and his alarm clock appeared to have died. When he went to the fridge for breakfast and found the soured milk, he knew immediately what had happened.

The landlord had, once again, cut his power as punishment. What he'd done to deserve it, he couldn't remember, but it was a punishment nonetheless.

After deciding against attempting to drink the soured milk, he did his best to get dressed and leave. As he was closing the front door - he didn't bother locking it anymore; if they wanted in, they'd get in - he saw the spray-painted words.

_Demon_.

_Monster_.

_Murderer_.

Naruto bit back a sob of frustration and firmly fixed his mask in place. He had to appear like it didn't hurt him, like the insults didn't tear at his heart, like everything bounced off the shield. It didn't, of ccourse, but they didn't need to know that.

While walking down the street to the ramen shop, Naruto almost felt like the day would get better.

Almost.

When he was pulled into the alleyway where three burly men were waiting, he knew better. There was no 'better' for someone like him.

After his beating was over, he waited in the alleyway as the men left, laughing and jeering the whole time. Then came the familiar ache and pain of healing muscles and skin. Naruto knew that as soon as he stepped out onto the street, it would appear as if nothing had happened.

That's the way things worked.

When the pain had stopped, when the healing seemed to be complete, Naruto made his way back out of the alleyway and resumed his trek to the ramen shop. He was stopped twice more, pulled into an alleyway twice more, beaten up twice more. It was only when someone pulled him intot he dead center of the street and kicked him in the stomach did Naruto decide that it was time to forgo breakfast altogether. Instead, he'd just head to his swing, his sanctuary.

That was when he saw _him_.

The perfect child. The protegy. The genius.

"Hey, you!" Naruto called as he approached the academy and the swing he'd claimed, voice cracking on the last word. "That's my swing; get off!"

The pale boy glanced up, a dark brow arched. "I don't see your name on it."

"Yeah, well...." Naruto faltered, struggling for the words to voice his retort.

"Can't even think up a good reply, can you, loser?" The raven smirked. "You're such an idiot. No wonder nobody likes you."

And that was when the weight of the day came crashing down.

Naruto began scrubbing at the tears that began leaking from his eyes. Every few seconds of he, he'd hiccup, the force of the action causing his whole body to jolt.

The pale boy stared at him, black eyes wide in stunned disbelief. "What... I mean, I... Please don't cry? I didn't mean it, honestly, I didn't!"

Naruto sniffled once, rubbing the back of his arm over his eyes, then his nose. When he finally glanced at the other boy again, his voice was weak and watery with tears that still wanted to fall. "You didn't?"

"No way, 'course not."

Naruto nodded once, slowly. He sat down beside the swing he had claimed as his own and began running his fingers through the dirt. After a minute or so, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched came upon him. He glanced up and found himself inches away from the other's face.

It was at that moment that he noticed that the other boy's eyes weren't black, but a very dark gray. And it was also at that moment, that short, miniscule moment, that he saw what everyone else refused to see in him: an insecure, lonely child. And it hurt. It hurt to know that there were other people like him out in the world.

"Anyway," the raven murmured quietly, clambering off the swing and hunching over so that he was at the blonde's level, "my name's Sasuke. What's yours?"

The blond stared at him for a moment, mistrust plainly visible in his sky blue eyes. Finally, after a wait that seemed endless, a slow smile crept across the blonde's face. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

And when looking back on everything that had come and gone, that one memory, that single, solitary meeting, was what would always stand out plain and clear in Naruto Uzumaki's memory.

That was why he refused to give up when Sasuke abandoned Konoha for Orochimaru. That was why he refused to give in, refused to break his promise to Sakura, because it wasn't really just for the pink-haired kunoichi anymore. It was for himself, because without the accidental interoduction to Sasuke, Naruto would never have been introduced to the wonders of friendship.

***

**Author's Note**: Yeah, it's kinda short, but it's a drabble, soo... :] Out of 100 prompts, I have 4 completed, amd starting on the fifth, and I'm going in listed order. The next prompt will be "Love".

Review and tell me what you think? :]


	2. Love

**Disclaimer:** Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' _DIED_!

**Author's Note:** SO! I am still sick. It's great, let me tell you. Except for the nasty cough medicine. And the huge infection-fighting pills. And the sleeping. ... Yes, the sleeping. When you sleep away more than half the day, it does get annoying. D:

Anyway! Here's the second drabble, this one prompted by the word "Love". Enjoy it. :]]

Also... These drabbles may or may not follow the timeline. And I have no beta. Mistakes are all my own.

You have been warned.

***

Title: Love  
Character: Sakura Haruno  
Rating: K  
Warnings: none  
Pairing: hints of SasuNaru  
Summary: Sometimes, Sakura wished she weren't so smart.

***

_Prompt 2: Love_

Sakura was smart. Maybe not genius-level, but pretty damn close. She'd never beat Shakamaru at shogi, nor would she ever outsmart Sasuke when it came to combining jutsus with brains, but she was book smart.

And perhaps that is why it didn't come as much of a surprise when she began taking note of the way Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other after the battle with Haku and Zabuza.

She knew that something bad had gone down, that for a few short, precious moments, Sasuke had been dead, that Naruto had gone into a rage - except she knew now that it wasn't a rage, but that the nine-tailed fox had given him the chakra to surpass Haku - but that was really all she knew.

So when she began noticing the way Sasuke would watch Naruto when he thought no one was watching, the way Naruto did exactly the same, she knew something was up... And she knew that they had no clue.

Sakura knew that one day, Sasuke would no longer be hers, and for the moment, while she wished she could deny it, she knew the truth. She knew that he'd never really been hers to begin with.

He'd always belonged to someone else. Someone with blond hair and blue eyes. Someone with sun-kissed skin. Someone that didn't need protecting. Someone that Sasuke could be himself with.

And unfortunately, that wasn't her.

...

Sometimes she wished she weren't so smart.

Sometimes she wished she were a boy.

Soemtimes she wished she were a boy with blond hair.

But usually it was the smarts.

It was hard, watching the two people she loved most spiral deeper and deeper into a net they would never, could never, escape from.

Love was hard like that.

***

**Author's Note**: Shorter than the first, but far more in depth into a character. I like it a lot; possibly the best of the drabbles I've completed. The next prompt will be "Light".

Review and tell me what you think? :]


	3. Light

**Disclaimer:** Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' _DIED_!

**Author's Note:** Still sick. Yup.

Here's the third drabble, this one prompted by the word "Light". Enjoy it. :]]

Also... These drabbles may or may not follow the timeline. And I have no beta. Mistakes are all my own.

You have been warned.

***

Title: Light  
Characters: Sasuke Uchiha  
Rating: K  
Warnings: none  
Pairing: SasuNaru if you squint and turn your head to the left.  
Summary: Everyone must face their fears. Sasuke merely chose to face his earlier than others.

***

_Prompt 3: Light_

Sasuke always knew it would come down to this. He _knew_ that one day he'd have to choose between his goals and pick the one he'd most likely succeed with.

It just happened that killing Itachi was that goal.

After he'd killed his brother, after everything was said and done, Naruto finally caught up to him.

It was Naruto that talked sense into him, Naruto that gave him a shoulder to lean on, a should to cry on, Naruto that convinced him that Itachi was dead and would never come back, Naruto that made Sasuke promise to return to Konoha, to return _home_.

So he did.

The welcome back he recieved from the village was astounding. He'd betrayed them, but they wanted nothing more than to welcome him back with open arms, wanted nothing more than to forget it had ever happened.

And Naruto....

Sasuke was still under watch, due to the Hokage's orders. And because of everything they'd done together, she'd put Naruto as his full-time watcher.

And before either of them knew what had happened, they'd gone from strangers to rivals, to friends, to brothers-in-arms, to mortal enemies, to friends again. Except that there was something more. Something stronger lurked beneath the current of friendship. Something so strong that neither Naruto nor Sasuke wanted to aknowledge it.

But everyone must face their fears sometime, and for Sasuke, his time had come.

And that is why Sasuke knew that he should leave. He knew that this wasn't good for him or for Naruto. He knew that every moment he stayed in Konoha, he was tainting Naruto's purity, his innocence.

But he didn't care.

He would stay by Naruto's side, guard him like any true friend should, watch as he ascended to the position of Hokage, and always, always continue reaching for the ever-luminescent light that had attracted him to the blond in the first place.

***

**Author's Note**: Also very in depth. But I liked it. x) Still enjoyed "Love" more, though. The next prompt will be "Dark".

Review and tell me what you think? :]


	4. Dark

**Disclaimer:** Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' _DIED_!

**Author's Note:** Still sick. Yup.

Here's the fourth drabble, this one prompted by the word "Dark". Enjoy it. :]]

Also... These drabbles may or may not follow the timeline. And I have no beta. Mistakes are all my own.

You have been warned.

***

Title: Dark  
Characters: Sasuke Uchiha & Naruto Uzumaki  
Rating: K+  
Warnings: Implied....something. Yep, 'something'.  
Pairing: ItaSaku  
Summary: Anything can happen in the dark.

***

_Prompt 4: Light_

"Scoot over; you're standing on my foot!"

"Well, dobe, if you hadn't of set off that damn alarm, we'd be home by now!"

"I can't see how it's my fault, Sasuke. You were the one who bumped into me!"

"Yes, but you were the one who actually tripped over the damn thing."

"Yeah, well... You were the one who wanted to come and crash the stupid party in the first place."

"Yes, but that didn't mean that I wanted to walk in on two people about to do it!"

"... Do you really think that was Sakura we saw making out with Itachi?"

"You know what Naruto? Just shut up."

***

**Author's Note**: Originally, I had action and stuff along with the dialogue, but then I decided I just wanted to try it with speech only. Personally, I like it. XD

Also, I'm not an Itachi/Sakura fan, but I realized that seeing his brother making out with his best female friend would _really _make Sasuke more annoyed than if it was Lee/Sakura, which was the original pairing. So there's your explanation. ... Dun kill me, please?


	5. Seeking Solace

**Disclaimer:** Oh, yeah. I totally own them. That's why Itachi friggin' _DIED_!

**Author's Note:** Hey, everybody. You all probably thought I died. Well, I didn't! No. Instead, I showed off my novella, graduated high school, and became a college student. It doesn't seem like much, but it's enough that I've cried like a baby multiple times. Oh. And it's my birthday. I'm now legally allowed to vote and have sex. Woo! ... Yeah. Pft. I care. We're not doing anything special - mom's working, my grandpa and aunt and senile, and my dad's a non-disclosable word. So I get to stay home with my brother and babysit. On my birthday. Without my friends. What a friggin' RIPOFF!

So this year for my birthday present... Would you all review and tell me what you think, please? Feedback to make a crappy day into something to smile about.

Title: Seeking Solace  
Characters: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha  
Rating: K  
Warnings: none  
Pairing: none  
Summary: Everyone has fears, some worse than others.  
Please Note! Takes place in the same universe as prompt #1.

_Prompt 5: Seeking Solace_

Naruto Uzumaki had grown up knowing anger, knowing solitude, knowing fear. It didn't occur to him that he wasn't alone in that regard until the summer before he turned thirteen.

It was raining outside. Sure, it was early spring, and the earth needed a nice drink of water after the harsh winter months, but Naruto had been looking forward to a day to goof off and train with his friends. It didn't matter that he did that every day; today would have been special. He and Sasuke had planned to hang out afterward and maybe even have a sleep over.

But now that it was raining, Naruto knew the whole deal was off. No one wanted to train in the rain, especially with a bug going around.

Suddenly, a brilliant streak of lightning shot across the sky. It struck one of the trees near the top of the Hokage mountain, but the resulting fire was put out in mere moments. Sometime thereafter, Naruto was jolted out of his stupor by a rather insistant knock at his door.

Naruto fell off of his perch with a soft yelp and began stumbling his way over to the door, cursing and mumbling about sleeping body parts.

Imagine his surprise when he opened the door to find one very wet Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked curiously, cerulean eyes wide.

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. "Can I come in?"

"O-oh, yeah. Come on in."

Sasuke did so, moving in a manner that unnerved Naruto. Only after Sasuke had shrugged off his soaked jacket and sat gingerly on the edge of the couch did Naruto think to ask, "So, what're you doing here, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't answer. His eyes had strayed to the window and were focused there. Naruto frowned and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something.

"Do you want some dry clothing, or something? We're close to the same size."

Sasuke nodded once, gaze never leaving the rain-streaked window, and Naruto hurried out of the room.

When he came back, a black shirt and matching shorts hanging over his arm, he stopped short and began staring. While he'd been out of the room, Sasuke had stripped down to his underwear and was sitting with his legs drawn close to his chest, face buried against his knees.

He looked so...

Helpless.

It was at that moment that Naruto remembered why.

Three years ago, just before Sasuke's ninth birthday, his older brother had murdered the entire Uchiha clan, leaving only himself and Sasuke alive.

It had been storming that day as well.

Tears, not necessarily those of pity, pricked at Naruto's eyes as he coughed softly to get the other's attention.

Sasuke's head shot up, dark eyes locking onto Naruto's. "What?"

Naruto shrugged and tossed him the clothing, pretending not to look as Sasuke slowly got dressed. When Sasuke had sat back down, one leg drawn to his chest, the other stretched out along the couch cushion, only then did Naruto take a seat near the boy.

"Hungry?"

Nothing.

"Thirsty?"

Nada.

"Tired?"

Zilch.

"... Wanna talk?"

Bingo.

"No," Sasuke mumbled immediately.

"Okay," Naruto replied with a wise smile. He leaned back, resting comfortably against the back of the couch, blue eyes closing in a hazy sense of relaxation.

Silence, and then: "Don't you want to know?"

One eye opened just the tiniest bit and followed the contours of the cracks on the ceiling. "Hmm?"

"I said, don't you want to know?"

"Know what?" At this point, both eyes had opened and were focused on a point far above their heads.

"Anything. Everything. The story."

Both eyes shut, the smile growing. "Sasuke, we're best friends. If you want to talk to me, you know I'm here."

"Oh."

For a while, all they heard was the sound of rain pattering against the thin walls and roof. Only on one occasion did thunder crash through the air.

"Do you ever wish you knew who they were?" Sasuke asked after an eternity of silence, dark eyes following the path of one of the ill-fated raindrops as it coursed down the window.

"All the time," Naruto answered back without hesitation.

Another bout of silence. Then:

"Aren't you sleepy yet?" Sasuke asked in mild irritation.

"Nope," was the immediate reply. "But if you are, you can lay down. It won't bother me to have your head or feet in my lap," he added after a moment of deliberation.

Sasuke huffed softly. "There's not even a blanket here. What if we fall alseep?"

"We'll be fine," Naruto replied with one of his all-knowing grins.

"Fine." And with that, Sasuke stretched out so that his head rested in Naruto's lap, feet just barely dangling over the edge of the couch's arm.

"If you tell anyone about this, you're dead," Sasuke mumbled softly, eyes already closed.

And Naruto, being Naruto, merely smiled and continued staring out the window, his hand resting gently on the raven's head in his lap.

* * *

Ending Note: You know what's really sad? What I really want for my birthday cannot be bought nor sold.

I want my friends by my side for a day of fun. I haven't seen a majority of them since seniors got out of school more than a month ago. I want the guy I like to come home, 'cause I miss him. I want to tell him I love him. I just want to be a normal teen girl, surrounded by the people she loves. What do I get? ... Definitely not that.

Ergh. Enough pity party. Tell me what you think, please? I finally have a good idea for Prompt 6 "Break Away", so it might be up by Friday (if I'm lucky).

Anyways, later all.  
Agent Silver, signing off.


End file.
